Paul Robinson breaks deadlock for Millwall

No-one, allegedly, likes them, but tonight they won’t care. For at long last Millwall have won through the play-offs. Five previous attempts to progress through the end-of-season lottery have ended in failure, but a goal after 38 minutes from Paul Robinson, the captain and central defender, finally ended the sequence.
A year after Kenny Jacketts team lost the League One play-off final to Scunthorpe United on a sweltering afternoon, they went one better in cool, rainy conditions today and are back in the Championship after four seasons in League One.
Robinson, who came up through the club’s youth ranks, had said that to lead the team out after failing to start last season’s play-off final through injury would be a dream come true, but scoring the winner and being voted man of the match would have seemed even more far-fetched.
Swindon, at Wembley for the first time since beating Leicester City 4-3 to reach the Premier League in 1993 and bidding for a return to the second tier after a decade, never really got going and could have been more than a goal down at half-time. But stubborn resistance kept them in the match and Charlie Austin, the former Poole Town forward who scored 20 League goals after making his full debut in November, had an excellent chance to draw the sides level in the second half. However, he shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Around 40,000 Millwall supporters made the short journey from Bermondsey and New Cross hoping to see their team win at Wembley for the first time. Swindon’s decision to wear all white in order to counter the effects of the Wembley heat - pitchside temperatures reached 41C in the Blackpool v Cardiff City match a week ago - were mocked by cool, drizzly conditions.
They struggled to impose their passing game as Millwall threatened first. Steve Morison did well to stay just onside as Danny Schofield played the ball through and then floated a clever chip just over the crossbar - proving that he is not just a battering-ram centre forward.
And Swindon were breathing another sigh of relief when Kevin Amankwaah headed powerfully into his own net but were relieved to see a flag raised because Liam Trotter had strayed offside when the ball was played in from the right.
Amankwaah, jeered by the Millwall fans for criticizing local hero Neil Harris earlier in the season, could not have done more to win them over than score an own goal - it was not his fault it was disallowed.
But Millwall did not have to wait long for a legitimate goal to cheer. It came in the 38th minute as Schofield’s corner kick from the left soared over attackers and defenders and dropped to Robinson, who chested the ball down and poked it in. It was the simplest of goals and the sort to drive the managers of defending teams to distraction.
While Neil Harris and Morison had been in the thick of the action, very little had been seen of Austin and Billy Paynter, the usually prolific Swindon forward pairing.
Danny Wilson, the Swindon manager, needed to give the sort of inspirational team talk that he had delivered at The Valley when his team trailed 2-0 in the semi-final second leg. On that occasion they went down to ten men before forcing extra time, so he and they knew that they had come back before.
But Millwall continued to press. Scott Cuthbert made a last ditch clearance as Shaun Batt looked to force his way through, and David Lucas saved with his feet as Schofield was played in by Harris. Then Harris’s shot rebounded off Lucas’s chest as Batt ran across the goalkeeper’s line of sight.
Morison also missed chances to add to his 21 goals since coming out of non-League football at Stevenage Borough. He had scored and won at Wembley twice before with his previous club, but was less than sharp today.
You felt that Millwall might regret not making certain of victory and that Swindon must get a chance and it came on 72 minutes as Robinson committed his only error of the match. Attempting to head a low-bouncing ball away, he only nodded it straight to Austin.
The Swindon forward raced away with only David Forde to beat and Robinson surely wondering whether to attempt to atone for his error with a foul and inevitable red card. It looked a stonewall chance for the former bricklayer, but to the relief of Robinson and the 40,000 Millwall fans, he curled his shot a yard wide.
Danny Wilson held his head in his hands, and did so again when Austin’s deflected shot in injury time was fingertipped to safety by Forde. The whistle blew seconds later, and the years of hurt were over for Millwall.
Millwall (4-3-3): D Forde S Barron, P Robinson, D Ward, T Craig (sub: A Frampton 44min) S Batt (sub: C Hackett 70), L Trotter, N Abdou, D Schofield N Harris, S Morison. Substitutes not used: J Sullivan, G Alexander, A Fuseini, M Laird, J Obika.
Swindon Town (4-4-2): D Lucas K Amankwaah, S Cuthbert, L Jean-Francois, A Sheehan (sub: S Darby 67mins) J-P McGovern (sub: A OBrien 73), J Dougles, S Ferry, D Ward C Austin, W Paynter (sub: V Pericard 81). Substitutes not used: P Smith, C Easton, M Timlin, S Morrison. Booked: Jean-Francois.
Referee: C Webster.